Russian Actor, Businessman Urges Putin To Criminalize Gay Sex

Ivan Okhlobystin, the Russian actor and businessman who shocked many late last year for saying he wanted to burn gays alive in furnaces, is back in the news for calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring back a law that would criminalize sodomy, RIA Novosti reports.

The actor, known for his role on "Interns," Russian's answer to "Scrubs," took to his blog Tuesday and said if Putin does not bring back the law it would give "sodomites...a Constitutional opportunity to defile the young generation." He also lauded Putin for passing the highly controversial "homosexual propaganda" law last summer but said it wasn't enough because the legal existence of the LGBT community will create propaganda.

It was reported Tuesday that more than 15 LGBT organizations teamed up to urge Apple CEO Tim Cook to break ties Euroset, the largest phone retailer in Russia, because Okhlobystin is the company's creative director. The activists want Apple officials to end their relationship with Euroset over the controversial and violent comments the actor made last month.

"I myself would shove all live gays into a furnace," Okhlobystin, 47, said at a "spiritual talks" event in Novosibirsk, Russia, on Dec. 8. "This is Sodom and Gomorrah, I as a believer in God can not treat this indifferently, this is a live threat to my kids!... I do not want my kids to think that faggots are normal. This is lavender fascism. If a person can not choose someone of an opposite sex for procreation -- this is an overt sign of mental abnormality, so they should be denied of voting rights."

More than 15 LGBT organizations have teamed up to urge Apple officials to cut ties with Euroset, the largest phone retailer in Russia, after the company’s creative director came under fire last month for saying gays should be shoved alive into a furnace.

Russia’s slide from democratic reforms and its relationships with international peers threaten to undercut the spirit of the Olympic Games it hosts next month, failed presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Sunday.